Webcams In Virtual Teams: Perceptions Of Impact On Interactions And Effectiveness

Abstract

Virtual teams have proliferated as businesses realized benefits in coordinating across geographic and departmental boundaries. With the increase in quality and availability of video over the Internet, there are opportunities to improve effectiveness of virtual teams by integrating videoconferencing into synchronous meetings. The purpose of this qualitative study is to evaluate the impact of video on team interactions and effectiveness. Results showed a relationship between the added richness and authenticity brought about by video and increased effectiveness, while also showing a relationship between the increased stress of learning new technology and decreased effectiveness. These relationships provided the basis for a proposed theoretical model that describes the impact of webcam utilization on virtual teams as a function of time along five key dimensions: authenticity, focus, stress, learning technology, and effectiveness.

The authors would like to thank Mr Ralph G. Trombetta for his invaluable help in formulating this article.

Abstract:

Purpose – Over the last several decades, product development efforts have seen unacceptably high new product failure rates. One important factor is the presence of competitors who can interfere with marketing strategy and force changes that sap resources and reduce success. As industries try to improve their success, line extensions, i.e. developing products similar but different to successful products, have become more common. Simultaneously, industries have reacted by refining the new product development (NPD) process to make it more reliable and accurate. The refined development techniques are so helpful in refining product benefits with which firms are familiar that they reinforce the pressure to extend the line. The result is overcrowded markets where destructive competition destroys profitability. A “blue ocean” strategy promises to change the destructive cycle of market crowding. Originally the framework focused on overall market strategy. However, it has a direct application to NPD. Revising the NPD process to incorporate a blue ocean viewpoint before the idea generation stage may reduce the failure rate and create breakthrough products that are not easily emulated. This paper aims to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the NPD literature as well as work implementing a blue ocean strategy. It delineates the tools developed for applying blue ocean concepts to strategy. The paper then applies a blue ocean approach to the NPD process with the objective of developing new products and services that are unhindered by competitive offerings. Implementing a blue ocean strategy involves four main actions and may be focused on six targets. The paper integrates the elements into a strategic opportunity product development matrix which may help practitioners. Moreover, it identifies at which stage of the new product development process blue ocean concepts should be introduced.

Findings – The paper reveals that there are no unvarnished panaceas in product development. Applying a blue ocean strategy to avoid competition early in the product life cycle promises to reduce dangerous competition to allow the product to succeed. However, the gains will probably not extend indefinitely. It requires constant improvement and application of the concepts to gain a measure of sustainability. If firms are successful early, they may be able to defend gains in some areas to retain profitability, while seeking new blue oceans.

Practical implications – Blue ocean applied to marketing strategy has seen large gains in success. Integrating efforts to find uncluttered market space holds the promise of increased success. It will also refine the NPD process.

Originality/value – Blue ocean strategy has not been applied to the new product development process in the literature. The paper integrates the concepts of the strategy with the elements of product development. The result is a new approach toward success products and product introductions.

Monday, 27 February 2012

5 easy ideas to make your virtual meetings inspiring and productive

Virtual Teams, as wonderful as they are, present you with one very special challenge to overcome. Without a face-to-face social aspect of a typical work environment, you can lose the personal and visual connections that are so powerful in keeping a team motivated and performing at its best.

Like many online entrepreneurs you may be having weekly virtual meetings to keep connected with your team. Congratulations for committing to your virtual team productivity. Do you think your team is inspired and motivated by that virtual meeting? If yes, then great – but the sad truth is, it is quite likely that at least one person on your team likely DREADS having that meeting (that person could be you)!

So what can you do to make sure your virtual team meetings continue to inspire your virtual team to achieve great things? Here are 5 ideas you can start using right away…

1. Set up the virtual meeting at an agreeable time

You might have one virtual assistant in the US, another in India and an assistant in the UK. Your meetings aren’t going to be productive if one of your key team members has to wait up until midnight just to speak with you. While they may seem happy to meet you at that hour at first, the truth is, they WILL TIRE OF IT. It won’t be long before they are dreading showing up to your meeting. They’ll have very little creative energy to offer the team and the whole experience will be a waste of time for you and your team.

So it may be fiddly to organise, but put the effort in and the long-term results will be worth it. Be sure to delegate the organising task to your virtual assistant J. If you’re having great difficulty getting an agreeable time for your entire team, then I recommend you rotate the meeting time so the same person doesn’t have to do the midnight hour every time your virtual team meets. It’s all about flexibility. This is one area where I don’t recommend doing business “on your terms” only. You need to show care and consideration to your team. In the end you’ll benefit too.

2. Allow for fun chat time at the beginning of a meeting

Just like there is that “chit­-chat” time before and after team meetings in the office, you need to set up your own “water filter” where team members can chat, have a cuppa and get to know each other better. When you set up your team meetings set it for 10 mins before the official meeting begins. This allows friendly interaction between your team members. Be sure to explain this to your team so they understand the value of that interaction time. Show your team the importance of contributing to the virtual team culture. Remember to celebrate milestones and achievements together. Get creative!

3. Add a visual element to your meetings

Adding a visual conferencing element to your meeting will not only increase productivity, but it will improve the cost effectiveness of your virtual meeting. Research proves that better results are produced when a visual component in added to a virtual team meeting. So depending on the number of people participating you can use tools to improve your meeting productivity. Here are some virtual team conferencing tool options we’ve used: www.skype.com, www.gotomeeting, www.anymeeting.com

4. Include space on the agenda for a practical but exciting activity

One fun activity that will contribute to your overall team culture is for each team member to take a personality quiz. Then have your team share the results with each other. It’s a great way to have some fun with team members while learning about how individual team members can work together better. There are free and paid options out there, depending on how you plan to use the results.

5. Know who’s doing what by when

As the leader of your virtual team, you chair the meeting. While you lead the meeting you can use your virtual assistant to make sure your virtual team meeting runs smoothly. Ask your virtual assistant to set up the meeting, make sure the agenda is set and agreed actions are followed up on. Having a system to follow-up on agreed actions is absolutely imperative to a successful team meeting. There is nothing more uninspiring than a whole lot of exciting actions being agreed upon, only to show up to the next meeting with NOTHING happening. As the leader of your virtual team you MUST SET THE EXAMPLE. If you agree to an action, then do it. Your team will be as excited about your business as YOU are.

By implementing these 5 simple steps you’ll be on your way to a motivated, excited virtual team! Happy virtual team meeting! If you’ve enjoyed this article, you’ll also love these tips on building your virtual team morale.

Sunday, 26 February 2012

From virtual teams to virtuality in teams

Abstract

In this article we propose to go beyond the dichotomy of virtual vs collocated teams to look instead at virtuality in teams. In so doing, we argue that technology-mediated interactions do not substitute but rather complement face-to-face interactions.We adopt a definition of virtuality in teams based on discontinuities and pursue an understanding of their dynamics in an in-depth case study of an inter-organizational virtual centre of excellence.The findings present evidence suggesting the formation of ‘virtual continuities’ that mitigate the effects that create discontinuities. This, we argue, enriches our understanding of the complex dynamics of virtuality. The theoretical implications are discussed.

Saturday, 25 February 2012

Description : This paper explores potential advantages of using virtual teams for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a comprehensive review on various aspects of virtual teams. Based on the standing of the pertinent literatures, attempt has been made to study the aspects by online survey method in Ira...

Description : Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered as an engine for economic growth all over the world and especially for developing countries. During the past decade, new product development (NPD) has increasingly been recognized as a critical factor in ensuring the continued survival of SMEs. On t...

Description : In the competitive market, virtual teams represent a growing response to the need for fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Virtual teams enable organizations to pool the talents and expertise of employees and non-employees by eliminating time and s...

Description : In today's dynamic marketplace, manufacturing companies are under strong pressure to introduce new products for long-term survival with their competitors. Nevertheless, every company cannot cope up progressively or immediately with the market requirements due to knowledge dynamics being experienced ...

Description : Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Their continued growth is a major subject for the economy and employment of any country. Towards that end, virtual research and development (R&D) could be a viable option to sustain and ease the operations of...

Description : Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving engine behind economic growth. While SMEs play a critical role in generating employment and supporting trade, they face numerous challenges, the prominent among them are the need to respond to fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to...

Description : New interaction tools such as internet allow companies to gain valuable input from research and development (R&D) engineers via virtual teams. Consequently, engineers also get more expertise in diminutive timeframes. Virtual R&D teams present the key impetus to the technology acquisition process. Th...

Description : In the competitive market , virtual teams represent a growing response to the need for fasting time-to- market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Virtual teams enable organizations to pool the talents and expertise of employees and non-employees by eliminating time and...

Description : Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving engine behind economic growth. While SMEs play a critical role in generating employment and supporting trade, they face numerous challenges, the prominent among them are the need to respond to fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to...

Description : In today's dynamic marketplace, manufacturing companies are under strong pressure to introduce new products for long-term survival with their competitors. Nevertheless, every company cannot cope up progressively or immediately with the market requirements due to knowledge dynamics being experienced ...

Abstract

Abstract Today’s complex design projects require teams of designers to come together to facilitate the sharing of their respective expertise in order to produce effective design solutions. Due to the increasing need for exchanging knowledge, modern design projects are more structured to work with distributed virtual teams that collaborate over computer networks to achieve global optima in design. Nevertheless, in the collaborative design process, the integration of multidisciplinary virtual teams – involving exchange and sharing of knowledge and expertise – frequently generates a lot of conflicting situations. Different experts’ viewpoints and perspectives, in addition to several ways of communicating and collaborating at the knowledge level, make all this process very hard to tackle. In order to achieve an optimal scenario, some problems must firstly be solved, such as: requirement specification and formalization, ontology integration, and conflict detection and resolution. Specifying and formalizing the knowledge demands a great effort towards obtaining representation patterns that aggregate several disjoint knowledge areas. Each expert should express himself so that the others can understand his information correctly. It is necessary, therefore, to use a flexible and sufficiently extensive data representation model to accomplish such a task. Some current models fall short of providing an effective solution to effective knowledge sharing and collaboration on design projects, because they fail to combine the geographical, temporal, and functional design aspects with a flexible and heterogeneous knowledge representation model. This work proposes an architecture for collaborative design that intends to be synchronous, heterogeneous, service-oriented, agent-based, and ontology-based. Particular representation models are transformed into ontology instances and merged together in order to accomplish the final product design. It is a synchronous approach because the merging process is undertaken at the same time that the interaction among the designers takes place. It is heterogeneous because it provides the users with two approaches for ontology integration: the use of a generic ontology and the harmonization process. Our proposal focuses on collaborative design conflicts and makes use of Web Ontology Language (OWL) and Web Services, the former as a tool for knowledge representation and the latter as a technological support for communication.

Collaboration is a structured, recursive process where two or more people work together toward a common goal — typically an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature — by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. So why would i use such a “collab…” thing?

Most of them are free to use or low-cost collaboration tools. There are ranges from small monthly payments like at Basecamp to unique payments for activeCollab. Almost all of them come with different themes and languages.

is a web-based project-management tool developed by 37signals. It lets make you to-do lits, share files, track time and schedule milestones, but lacks in creating big documents and export. There are many plugins to extend it like basecode or quickcamp.

Redmine is a flexible project management web application. Written using Ruby on Rails framework, it is cross-platform and cross-database.

Redmine is open source and released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). Its features are milestones, calenders, boards, wikis, document sharing, creating documents, ticket systems, activity histor, charts and more. Unfortunately there is no screenshot of it.

Achievo is an open source flexible web-based resource management tool that is suitable for any medium sized company that needs to keep track of its resources, projects, clients, contacts, planning and daily scheduling. Achievo’s core is available in more than 20 languages.

An Open Source collaborative software platform for file sharing, task management, team collaboration and Wiki editing that is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Mindquarry runs as a web application with an optional desktop client for Windows, Linux and Mac OS that allows for desktop synchronization and offline work.

Allows you to code in parallel and share your code safely concentrated on results, not on lost changes or overwritten files. You get rapid collaboration in protected space. It comes with a basecamp integration, live preview.

ClockingIT is a free to use hosted application (written in Ruby on Rails), keeping track of all your tasks and the time you spend on them. It features time tracking & reports, milestones & due dates, tagging & search, timeline & activity log, notifications, wiki ans has no restrictions or limits.

OfficeMedium provides a very simplistic approach to the common business software requirements. Unlike most business software, their application is easy to use and stripped of over-complicated, unnecessary clutter.

linking to Scoop.it profile

Subscribe To this Blog

About Me

Nader Ale Ebrahim has
a Technology Management PhD degree from the Department of Engineering
Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya
(UM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He holds a Master of Science in the
mechanical engineering from University of Tehran, Iran.